Child surfer takes a tumble, camera catches that he was hit by a shark

A 7-year-old surfer was unharmed after being knocked down by a shark.

December 3, 2019, 5:26 AM

A young surfer had a close encounter with a shark on a Florida beach caught on camera.

Chandler Moore, 7, was surfing with his father, Shaun, off New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County, with a GoPro camera attached to his surf board.

Footage his father uploaded to social media shows Chandler riding a wave. Moore's father told Reuters that his son said "something like a fish" jumped out of the water and scared him.

A freeze-frame of the moment the boy falls shows that the animal is clearly a small shark.

PHOTO: Chandler Moore, 7, is struck off his surfboard by what looks like a black tip shark at New Smyrna Beach, Florida, U.S., November 30, 2019, in this still image obtained from a GoPro. Courtesy of Shaun Moore/Social Media via REUTERS.
Chandler Moore, 7, is struck off his surfboard by what looks like a black tip shark at New Smyrna Beach, Florida, U.S., November 30, 2019, in this still image obtained from a GoPro. Courtesy of Shaun Moore/Social Media via REUTERS.
Shaun Moore/ via Reuters

Moore confirmed that his son was not harmed during the incident.

Volusia County was dubbed “the shark bite capital of the world” by the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF).

National Geographic cited estimates that anyone who has swam off New Smyrna Beach has been within 10 feet of a shark.

ISAF data shows that Volusia has had more documented shark attacks than any other county in Florida -- 303 since 1882. Florida has seen the most documented shark attacks of any U.S. state, with 828 since 1837. Hawaii has the next highest total, with 162.

There have been multiple shark attacks at New Smyrna Beach in 2019, including an incident in August where two people were bitten in separate incidents that took place minutes apart at the beach.

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